Ditch 1 from Perdigões within the traditions of Late Prehistoric monumental architecture in the middle Guadiana basin (4th-3rd millennia cal BC)

Traditional approaches to the Late Prehistory in the middle Guadiana basin (south-western Iberia), have subsumed a variety of site types under a unifying category labelled ‘settlement site’. That included ‘walled enclosures’, ‘ditched enclosures’ and ‘pit sites’. However, they are very different in their form and features, the formation of archaeological deposits and their chronology. This suggests that more fine-tuned analyses, in which the emergence and evolution of every type of site is studied on its own, could be fruitful. In the present paper, ditch 1 from Perdigões (Reguengos de Monsaraz, Portugal) will be put in the wider context of the process of monumentalisation of the middle Guadiana landscapes in the 4th and 3rd millennia cal bc. From the perspective outlined above, we shall make a first attempt to set forth the genealogy of walled enclosures, pit sites and ditched enclosures in the region.Las lecturas históricas tradicionales sobre la Prehistoria Reciente realizadas en la cuenca media del Guadiana (so de Iberia) han unificado bajo un mismo concepto de ‘poblado’ o ‘asentamiento’ yacimientos muy distintos en su morfología, en la formación del registro arqueológico o en su cronología. Bajo ese etiquetado se han incluido tanto los yacimientos de hoyos como los recintos de fosos y/o los recintos murados/ fortificados. Sin embargo, todos ellos son muy diferentes en su forma y características, la formación de depósitos arqueológicos y su cronología. Esto sugiere que un análisis más preciso, en el que la aparición y la evolución de cada tipo de sitio se estudie por sí solo, podría ser fructífero. En el presente artículo se sitúa el Foso 1 de Perdigões (Reguengos de Monsaraz, Portugal) en el contexto más amplio del proceso de monumentalización de los paisajes del Medio Guadiana durante el iv y el iii milenio cal ac. Desde la perspectiva anteriormente descrita, haremos un primer intento de exponer la genealogía de los recintos amurallados, los sitios de fosos y los recintos abandonados en esta región

Eurom.com.text: etiquetado semántico

Dans ce travail nous présentons l’étiquetage sémantique du projet d’enseignement plurilingue de langues romanes Eurom.com.text. Nous analysons un corpus en quatre langues (le catalan, le français, l’italien et le portugais) avec une typologie textuelle en fonction du type et genre textuels. Ce projet a comme objectif principal la compréhension de ces quatre langues par un locuteur adulte hispanophon

Corynebacterium species inhibit Streptococcus pneumoniae colonization and infection of the mouse airway

The stability and composition of the airway microbiome is an important determinant of respiratory health. Some airway bacteria are considered to be beneficial due to their potential to impede the acquisition and persistence of opportunistic bacterial pathogens such a

Hospital control and multidrug-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis in female patients, Lima, Peru.

We examined the prevalence of tuberculosis (TB), rate of multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB, and characteristics of TB on a female general medicine ward in Peru. Of 250 patients, 40 (16%) were positive by sputum culture and 27 (11%) by smear, and 8 (3%) had MDRTB. Thirteen (33%) of 40 culture-positive patients had not been suspected of having TB on admission. Six (46%) of 13 patients whose TB was unsuspected on admission had MDRTB, compared with 2 (7%) of 27 suspected cases (p = 0.009). Five (63%) of 8 MDRTB patients were smear positive and therefore highly infective. In developing countries, hospital control, a simple method of reducing the spread of MDRTB, is neglected

The implausibility of ‘usual care’ in an open system: sedation and weaning practices in Paediatric Intensive Care Units (PICUs) in the United Kingdom (UK)

Background: The power of the randomised controlled trial depends upon its capacity to operate in a closed system whereby the intervention is the only causal force acting upon the experimental group and absent in the control group, permitting a valid assessment of intervention efficacy. Conversely, clinical arenas are open systems where factors relating to context, resources, interpretation and actions of individuals will affect implementation and effectiveness of interventions. Consequently, the comparator (usual care) can be difficult to define and variable in multi-centre trials. Hence outcomes cannot be understood without considering usual care and factors that may affect implementation and impact on the intervention. Methods: Using a fieldwork approach, we describe PICU context, ‘usual’ practice in sedation and weaning from mechanical ventilation, and factors affecting implementation prior to designing a trial involving a sedation and ventilation weaning intervention. We collected data from 23 UK PICUs between June and November 2014 using observation, individual and multi-disciplinary group interviews with staff. Results: Pain and sedation practices were broadly similar in terms of drug usage and assessment tools. Sedation protocols linking assessment to appropriate titration of sedatives and sedation holds were rarely used (9 % and 4 % of PICUs respectively). Ventilator weaning was primarily a medical-led process with 39 % of PICUs engaging senior nurses in the process: weaning protocols were rarely used (9 % of PICUs). Weaning methods were variably based on clinician preference. No formal criteria or use of spontaneous breathing trials were used to test weaning readiness. Seventeen PICUs (74 %) had prior engagement in multi-centre trials, but limited research nurse availability. Barriers to previous trial implementation were intervention complexity, lack of belief in the evidence and inadequate training. Facilitating factors were senior staff buy-in and dedicated research nurse provision. Conclusions: We examined and identified contextual and organisational factors that may impact on the implementation of our intervention. We found usual practice relating to sedation, analgesia and ventilator weaning broadly similar, yet distinctively different from our proposed intervention, providing assurance in our ability to evaluate intervention effects. The data will enable us to develop an implementation plan; considering these factors we can more fully understand their impact on study outcomes

Automated radiofrequency-based US measurement of common carotid intima-media thickness in RA patients treated with synthetic vs synthetic and biologic DMARDs

Objective. To compare the carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) assessed with automated radiofrequency-based US in RA patients treated with synthetic vs synthetic and biologic DMARDs and controls. Methods. Ninety-four RA patients and 94 sex-and age-matched controls were prospectively recruited at seven centres. Cardiovascular (CV) risk factors and co-morbidities, RA characteristics and therapy were recorded. Common carotid artery (CCA)-IMT was assessed in RA patients and controls with automated radiofrequency-based US by the same investigator at each centre. Results. Forty-five (47.9%) RA patients had been treated with synthetic DMARDs and 49 (52.1%) with synthetic and biologic DMARDs. There were no significant differences between the RA patients and controls in demographics, CV co-morbidities and CV disease. There were significantly more smokers among RA patients treated with synthetic and biologic DMARDs (P = 0.036). Disease duration and duration of CS and synthetic DMARD therapy was significantly longer in RA patients treated with synthetic and biologic DMARDs (P<0.0005). The mean CCA-IMT was significantly greater in RA patients treated only with synthetic DMARDs than in controls [591.4 (98.6) vs 562.1 (85.8); P = 0.035] and in RA patients treated with synthetic and biologic DMARDs [591.4 (98.6) vs 558.8 (95.3); P = 0.040). There was no significant difference between the mean CCA-IMT in RA patients treated with synthetic and biologic DMARDs and controls (P = 0.997). Conclusion. Our results suggest that radiofrequency-based measurement of CCA-IMT can discriminate between RA patients treated with synthetic DMARDs vs RA patients treated with synthetic and biologic DMARDs

Tetrahydrobiopterin modulates ubiquitin conjugation to UBC13/UBE2N and proteasome activity by S-nitrosation

Nitric Oxide (NO) is an intracellular signalling mediator, which affects many biological processes via the posttranslational modification of proteins through S-nitrosation. The availability of NO and NOS-derived reactive oxygen species (ROS) from enzymatic uncoupling are determined by the NO synthase cofactor Tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4). Here, using a global proteomics “biotin-switch” approach, we identified components of the ubiquitin-proteasome system to be altered via BH4-dependent NO signalling by protein S-nitrosation. We show S-nitrosation of ubiquitin conjugating E2 enzymes, in particular the catalytic residue C87 of UBC13/UBE2N, leading to impaired polyubiquitylation by interfering with the formation of UBC13~Ub thioester intermediates. In addition, proteasome cleavage activity in cells also seems to be altered by S-nitrosation, correlating with the modification of cysteine residues within the 19S regulatory particle and catalytic subunits of the 20S complex. Our results highlight the widespread impact of BH4 on downstream cellular signalling as evidenced by the effect of a perturbed BH4-dependent NO-Redox balance on critical processes within the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS). These studies thereby uncover a novel aspect of NO associated modulation of cellular homeostasis